Count Your Blessings!

With love and passion, everyone can have a nice garden...Elaine Yim

Count Your Blessings!
Count The Garden By The Flowers, Never By The Leaves That Fall.
Count Your Life With Smiles And Not The Tears That Roll.
..... Author unknown.

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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Help! There's a Bird Nest on My Hydrangea Plant!


On the Friday morning of May 6th this month, while my friends in the USA were still in timezone 5th of May, celebrating Cinco de Mayo, I noticed an untidy mass of straw among the leaves of my hydrangea plant.


On close inspection, I find that 2 large hydrangea leaves has been weaved together into some kind of pouch.

“Help! There's a Bird Nest on My Hydrangea Plant!" a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on May 10th, 2011.


It looks like contton fibres.
With all my crochetting and sewing skills, I still can't do this handicraft work.
The intricate weaing didn't damage the leaves. It is still as green as ever. 


I took a peep and found nothing inside.
I wonder whose nest is it - a wasp, moth, reptile or bird, 2,4,6, 8 or more legged?


I set up this bird hotel at the Hibiscus Wing of 'My Nice Garden Wildlife Resort and Spa' but there are no takers! Looks like the birds like their own workmanship and architectural design.



"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"
- an ancient proverb


By Sunday, May 8th which was Mother's Day, I saw 3 eggs inside the nest. Is this a gift for me?

I have seen the dark brown MOTHER bird. It looks like a sparrow but has a longer beak that points downwards. It's body size is much smaller. The eggs are pinkish with darker pink/reddish dots. The small little nest is only about 6 inches long and it looks so fragile, build on just 2 hydrangea leaves. Now where is the FATHER bird? He must take responsibility for this!

I am quite worried and I feel so helpless and useless now that a Mummy Bird has checked into my 'maternity centre'. I wish I had seen more documentaries on Discovery or National Geographic Channel. I do hope the eggs will hatch safely. But, what shall I do when the eggs hatch???

Oh dear, I am not an expert in such matters as bird obstetrics and gynaecology, so
PLEASE HELP ME !
Any advice will be greatly appreciated. 

26 comments:

  1. haha.. aren't they cute. The birds set up nests on my hydrangea many times altho' lately they haven't been doing it. One time I thought they were green snakes or lizard eggs, scared the heck out of me. Its good luck if birds set up nest in your home :)

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  2. Sure haven't seen anything like that here before but if they like Hydrangea in particular, mine probably aren't big enough yet to attract them. When it's time, the eggs will hatch on their own without any help.
    Cher
    Goldenray Yorkies

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  3. What a fascinating nest! I've never seen anything quite like it, and three lovely eggs too! I'm fairly certain you can just sit back and enjoy, and let the Mother bird tend the young when they hatch. I almost can't imagine three baby birds in there. How exciting!

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  4. The Chinese believe it is good luck if a bird makes a nest in your home! Autumn Belle, go buy lottery! Hahaha!
    The mummy bird would know what to do, I guess there's nothing much you could do except just observe and post about it! It is really nice to see baby birds finally out from their shell. If you are lucky, just as my friend did, you would see how the mother bird teaches the little ones to fly! My friend was totally moved by the mothers TLC! The birds have not been to my garden to set up their nest in a long time!

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  5. Just wait and watch and wonder... and hope the neighbor's cat doesn't come by.

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  6. Hahaha, i've been missing your posts lately, so now here is a big surprise. I haven't seen the same architectural nest's design in our area, so not familiar who owns it. But the comments above are so good, just don't meddle with their affair, they totally know what they are doing, haha! So please do not go very near the nest esp when they see you, also dont touch it. Birds will leave and abandon nest, eggs, or youngs touched by human beings. So you can help them by just staying afar! And you will learn a lot by doing that!

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  7. Oh, thank you very much to my saviours!

    OK,OK, I'll be good. Earlier, I have tip-toed nearby and saw a beak peeking out, so I tip-toed away. I observe that mama will leave the nest during the day, perhaps to look for food. Just to let you know that:

    1. My hydrangea is only about 2 ft tall and it is growing in a flower pot about a foot above the ground.

    2. I have alerted all the house occupants to look out for any walk-in cats or reptiles and shoo them away.

    3. So far, the most menacing are only the noisy mynahs and bigger crows.

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  8. Soooo sweeeet... I'll be delighted to see that nest in my garden. But it wouldn't happen since the dogs can easily step on my hydrangea. Thanks for sharing yours. 3 eggs on Mother's Day. Hmmmm....3851

    Btw, congratulations! Your caption has been selected. I've put a link to your blog since yesterday.

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  9. Isn't it good luck to have bird nest at your house. I think it is much more warmer with the twigs for the eggs. You might want to set some furniture in your birdhouse;-).

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  10. That is so sweet, and what delicate work they did with the nest.

    Enjoy watching new life.

    FlowerLady

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  11. You can read about birds nesting in my garden in my other blog, i.e kopisecawe.blogspot.com. I found that the honey birds ( burung jerijit ) even reused their nest 4 times and have 6 babies since they build their nest.The other bird ( that i dont really know its name )build the nest between two leaves,like your birds. You can watch National Geographic lives in your garden :)

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  12. My Frens, TQVM for the wonderful support and wise words. I have birds regularly nesting on my tall palm trees and kitchen roof but this one is on my potted plant placed in the verandah just next to my sliding door on the side entrance. It never happened before, hence I'm quite nervous.

    One, thank you for the link.

    MKG, I like your idea of furnishing the empty bamboo birdhouse.

    FlowerLady, the Mummy Bird like to leave the nest during the day time and only come back in the evenings. Maybe she has errants to run. I have a feeling that Papa Bird is nearby among the trees in front of my house.

    Sekkut, I'll hop over to your blog soonest possible. What a pleasant surprise to know that birds practise the 3Rs too.

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  13. You have created such an inviting place for nature and I can understand why they would want to nest in your garden. Those eggs are so tiny, I just love their coloring.
    It is always a joy to see the "happy" side of nature. Sometimes it is not so pretty, like watching a coyote tear apart a rabbit.
    Thanks for the Happy Mother's Day wishes. I hope you enjoyed your MD as well.
    Ta Ta!

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  14. Hi Autumn Belle,

    actually those little birds are flowerpeckers (Dicaediae), very small birds that feed on nectar. The same happened to me a couple of weeks ago in one of my garden plants behind the house. The little birdies have already hatched and abandoned the nest now, so just leave it like this and enjoy the visitors. They will be absulotely fine without any interventions :)

    Salam from Lumut,
    Nadine

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  15. My gosh is that unique. But here, the neighborhood cats would be having dinner. Hope they hatch and you get to see the birds. I am glad you posted this because it is unlikely I will see this around here.

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  16. That's the beauty of nature to be able to build such nest. Thought it was spider web. Your wooden house is too hot no air-con leh that's why no takers..lolz

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  17. Bananaz got a bird nest under one of the pipes at my washing area. They have been there for years and could have a few young birds already. From my room can hear them chirping every morning and when comes to evening would hear them making lots of sounds like saying 'hi I'm home, how was your day obladi oblada'. hahaha.

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  18. How amazing they are to create such a perfect specimen of a nest right between the hydrangea leaves! I agree that you are very lucky to have this so near to be able to observe it. Your photos were excellent.

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  19. What a wonderful thing to happen in your garden!! And your photos of the nest and eggs are beautiful.

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  20. Hi! I stumbled up on your blog, and Im glad I did:-)
    I love tropical plants and flowers!

    I'll be happy to keep up on your fantastic blog!

    Best regards,
    Helene
    http://helenesblogadresseat.blogspot.com/

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  21. I think its truly a celebrated moment to see birds nest in your garden. Hope you get to know more about your new residence soon.

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  22. Autumn Belle, I've never seen a nest like that. How on earth do birds know how to weave like that? Enjoy! I've been loving watching cardinals and bluebirds nest this spring. And please share photos when the birds hatch!

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  23. Ob-la-di ob-la-da life goes on brah,
    La la how the life goes on,
    Ob-la-di ob-la-da life goes on brah,
    La la how the life goes on

    In a couple of years they have built a home sweet home,
    With a couple of kids running in the yard,
    Of Desmond and Molly Jones.

    Well, the eggs have not hatched yet. But I certainly that in a couple of weeks, the birds will be like Desmond and Molly Jones in the Beatles "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da.....

    TQ, TQ, TQ for all the help, my frens!

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  24. My friend's plant also had a bird's nest and 3 baby birds in it. Don't worry, nature will take its course. The mommy bird always bring food back for its little ones. When the young ones can fly, they would leave the nest.

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  25. This is sad news. Sometime, last week, there was a thunderstorm. After that I didn't see the mummy bird anymore. The eggs and nest are still here but I don't think it will ever hatch. Another nest in the palm tree in front of my house got blown down but it was empty. Hopefully, the whole family has left the nest, with all baby birds grown up.

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    Replies
    1. I just had this happen too! Heard mama bird squalking but had no idea! I haven’t seen her around lately. There are 3 eggs in the nest and I want to help!

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